Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman’s Yisrael Beiteinu party plans to propose a law requiring residents to swear loyalty to the Jewish state. The party has also proposed legislation to ban the commemoration of the “Nakba” or “disaster,” which many Arab Israelis and Palestinians mark while the Jewish state marks its Independence Day. Under the proposed legislation, those publicly commemorating the Nakba could be jailed. The proposed laws have been denounced by Palestinians who have Israeli citizenship.

Khalaili, Arab Israeli Resident: “First, we, as Arabs, and as the remaining Palestinians, refuse this discourse. We consider the Nakba a part of the Palestinian history and culture, just like we don’t ask the Jews to cancel the Holocaust. Using the same measurements and the same meanings, it is impossible to cancel the Nakba day, because it is an element that can’t be excluded from the Palestinians’ existence.”